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What facts there are in politics on which to make informed decisions?

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  • What facts there are in politics on which to make informed decisions?

    Candidate X says we should cut government spending.
    Candidate Y says we should make government more efficient.
    Candidate Z says the government should spend more to spur more economic growth.
    Whoa! I want to know more about those rascals.
    My vote is not going to make any significant difference.
    Other (post your choice)

    I got the idea for this poll from a Bill Bonner essay.
    The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

    [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

  • #2
    As they always say, follow the money. I'm all for public disclosure of political donations above a certain amount.
    "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

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    • #3
      Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
      As they always say, follow the money. I'm all for public disclosure of political donations above a certain amount.
      I'm not after the Firefox fiasco.
      "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Isaiah 3:12

      There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Darth Executor View Post
        I'm not after the Firefox fiasco.
        With a high threshold. He didn't really give all that much anyway and would have been covered under what I'd ideally envision.
        "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

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        • #5
          It bears repeating: Politics is inseperable from democracy, as there's too many competing interests groups within a democracy for politics to allow any publicly authoritative fact or last word at all:

          In UR terms, democracy is a core tenet of Universalism. It's really not possible to be a Universalist and not believe in democracy. It's like being a Catholic and thinking the Virgin Mary was "just some chick."

          Universalism is the faith of the Brahmins, the intellectual caste whose global dominance has been unchallenged arguably since World War II, and certainly since the end of the Cold War. Since an intellectual is defined by his or her ability to influence the opinions of others, it's not hard to see why democracy is such an effective political formula. Democracy means that popular opinion controls the State; intellectuals guide popular opinion; ergo, intellectuals guide the State.

          As Walter Lippmann pointed out 75 years ago, public opinion in a democracy is a sort of funhouse mirror that reflects - albeit inaccurately, imperfectly and often quite reluctantly - the views of the governing elite. To be fair, it also has a certain filtering effect which discourages some of the nuttiest intellectual fads, if only because they can be positively incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't been to Harvard. But the history of extraordinary popular delusions does not afford much confidence - and with only a few exceptions, the beliefs held at elite schools in the Unionist (Lincoln to Wilson), Progressive (Wilson to FDR), and Universalist (FDR to now) periods have been leading indicators of American public opinion. Very generally, the consensus at Harvard at year Y is the consensus of America at Y+50. If this isn't power, what is?
          For the gorier details of this power arrangement, another post will suffice:

          ...the incompetent trustee is, often if not always, not simply incapable of discharging his function responsibly. Rather, he is incapable of discharging it at all. He is not in any sense a philosopher - even a bad philosopher. Philosophy is as far above him as poker above a dog. He does not have dangerous political ideas; he has no political ideas.

          He remains human, however - the genetic heir of countless kings. The exercise of power still appeals viscerally to him, as of course do its rewards. He may thus serve as a vessel, adding his vacant vote to the power of some PhD's political chemistry. Which, if powerful enough, can easily pay good rent for the property of his mind. And the vessel gets to vote, and feel good about it, and probably pay himself some bribes as well. In short, this is politics - but in a good way. Sauron's Ring, captured and cured, as a tool for the greater good.

          Naturally, the less of a philosopher your vessel is, the better. Ideally, he is not tempted to contaminate the message with the random ravings of his own political mind. Ideally, there is no such thing in his skull. Wikipedia has an excellent term for this person: meatpuppet.
          The Bible also has the term for those captured by the worship of this: idolaters. You should not expect them to respect truth when it conflicts with their ideological idols.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
            As they always say, follow the money. I'm all for public disclosure of political donations above a certain amount.
            Gee wouldn't that be nice.....
            A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
            George Bernard Shaw

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